Searching for soft relativistic jets in core-collapse supernovae with the IceCube optical follow-up program

Context. Transient neutrino sources such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae (SNe) are hypothesized to emit bursts of high-energy neutrinos on a time-scale of less than or similar to 100 s. While GRB neutrinos would be produced in high relativistic jets, core-collapse SNe might host soft-relativistic jets, which become stalled in the outer layers of the progenitor star leading to an efficient production of high-energy neutrinos.
Aims. To increase the sensitivity to these neutrinos and identify their sources, a low-threshold optical follow-up program for neutrino multiplets detected with the IceCube observatory has been implemented.
Methods. If a neutrino multiplet, i.e. two or more neutrinos from the same direction within 100 s, is found by IceCube a trigger is sent to the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, ROTSE. The 4 ROTSE telescopes immediately start an observation program of the corresponding region of the sky in order to detect an optical counterpart to the neutrino events.
Results. No statistically significant excess in the rate of neutrino multiplets has been observed and furthermore no coincidence with an optical counterpart was found.
Conclusions. The search allows, for the first time, to set stringent limits on current models predicting a high-energy neutrino flux from soft relativistic hadronic jets in core-collapse SNe. We conclude that a sub-population of SNe with typical Lorentz boost factor and jet energy of 10 and 3 x 1051 erg, respectively, does not exceed 4.2% at 90% confidence.

@article{2144194,
abstract = {Context. Transient neutrino sources such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae (SNe) are hypothesized to emit bursts of high-energy neutrinos on a time-scale of less than or similar to 100 s. While GRB neutrinos would be produced in high relativistic jets, core-collapse SNe might host soft-relativistic jets, which become stalled in the outer layers of the progenitor star leading to an efficient production of high-energy neutrinos.
Aims. To increase the sensitivity to these neutrinos and identify their sources, a low-threshold optical follow-up program for neutrino multiplets detected with the IceCube observatory has been implemented.
Methods. If a neutrino multiplet, i.e. two or more neutrinos from the same direction within 100 s, is found by IceCube a trigger is sent to the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment, ROTSE. The 4 ROTSE telescopes immediately start an observation program of the corresponding region of the sky in order to detect an optical counterpart to the neutrino events.
Results. No statistically significant excess in the rate of neutrino multiplets has been observed and furthermore no coincidence with an optical counterpart was found.
Conclusions. The search allows, for the first time, to set stringent limits on current models predicting a high-energy neutrino flux from soft relativistic hadronic jets in core-collapse SNe. We conclude that a sub-population of SNe with typical Lorentz boost factor and jet energy of 10 and 3 x 1051 erg, respectively, does not exceed 4.2\% at 90\% confidence.},
articleno = {A60},
author = {Abbasi, R and Abdou, Yasser and Abu-Zayyad, T and Ackermann, M and Adams, J and Aguilar, JA and Ahlers, M and Allen, MM and Altmann, D and Andeen, K and Auffenberg, J and Bai, X and Baker, M and Barwick, SW and Bay, R and Alba, JLB and Beattie, K and Beatty, JJ and Bechet, S and Becker, JK and Becker, KH and Benabderrahmane, ML and BenZvi, S and Berdermann, J and Berghaus, P and Berley, D and Bernardini, E and Bertrand, D and Besson, DZ and Bindig, D and Bissok, M and Blaufuss, E and Blumenthal, J and Boersma, DJ and Bohm, C and Bose, D and Boser, S and Botner, O and Brown, AM and Buitink, S and Caballero-Mora, KS and Carson, Michael and Chirkin, D and Christy, B and Clevermann, F and Cohen, S and Colnard, C and Cowen, DF and Silva, AHC and D'Agostino, MV and Danninger, M and Daughhetee, J and Davis, JC and De Clercq, C and Degner, T and Demirors, L and Descamps, Freija and Desiati, P and De Vries-Uiterweerd, Garmt and DeYoung, T and Diaz-Velez, JC and Dierckxsens, M and Dreyer, J and Dumm, JP and Dunkman, M and Eisch, J and Ellsworth, RW and Engdegard, O and Euler, S and Evenson, PA and Fadiran, O and Fazely, AR and Fedynitch, A and Feintzeig, J and Feusels, Tom and Filimonov, K and Finley, C and Fischer-Wasels, T and Fox, BD and Franckowiak, A and Franke, R and Gaisser, TK and Gallagher, J and Gerhardt, L and Gladstone, L and Glusenkamp, T and Goldschmidt, A and Goodman, JA and Gora, D and Grant, D and Griesel, T and Gross, A and Grullon, S and Gurtner, M and Ha, C and Haj Ismail, Abd Al Karim and Hallgren, A and Halzen, F and Han, K and Hanson, K and Heinen, D and Helbing, K and Hellauer, R and Herquet, P and Hickford, S and Hill, GC and Hoffman, KD and Hoffmann, B and Homeier, A and Hoshina, K and Huelsnitz, W and Hulss, JP and Hulth, PO and Hultqvist, K and Hussain, S and Ishihara, A and Jacobi, E and Jacobsen, J and Japaridze, GS and Johansson, H and Kampert, KH and Kappes, A and Karg, T and Karle, A and Kenny, P and Kiryluk, J and Kislat, F and Klein, SR and Kohne, JH and Kohnen, G and Kolanoski, H and Kopke, L and Kopper, S and Koskinen, DJ and Kowalski, M and Kowarik, T and Krasberg, M and Kroll, G and Kurahashi, N and Kuwabara, T and Labare, M and Laihem, K and Landsman, H and Larson, MJ and Lauer, R and Lunemann, J and Madsen, J and Marotta, A and Maruyama, R and Mase, K and Matis, HS and Meagher, K and Merck, M and Meszaros, P and Meures, T and Miarecki, S and Middell, E and Milke, N and Miller, J and Montaruli, T and Morse, R and Movit, SM and Nahnhauer, R and Nam, JW and Naumann, U and Nygren, DR and Odrowski, S and Olivas, A and Olivo, M and O'Murchadha, A and Panknin, S and Paul, L and de Los Heros, CP and Petrovic, J and Piegsa, A and Pieloth, D and Porrata, R and Posselt, J and Price, PB and Przybylski, GT and Rawlins, K and Redl, P and Resconi, E and Rhode, W and Ribordy, M and Richman, M and Rodrigues, JP and Rothmaier, F and Rott, C and Ruhe, T and Rutledge, D and Ruzybayev, B and Ryckbosch, Dirk and Sander, HG and Santander, M and Sarkar, S and Schatto, K and Schmidt, T and Schonwald, A and Schukraft, A and Schultes, A and Schulz, O and Schunck, M and Seckel, D and Semburg, B and Seo, SH and Sestayo, Y and Seunarine, S and Silvestri, A and Spiczak, GM and Spiering, C and Stamatikos, M and Stanev, T and Stezelberger, T and Stokstad, RG and Stossl, A and Strahler, EA and Strom, R and Stuer, M and Sullivan, GW and Swillens, Q and Taavola, H and Taboada, I and Tamburro, A and Ter-Antonyan, S and Tilav, S and Toale, PA and Toscano, S and Tosi, D and van Eijndhoven, N and Vandenbroucke, J and Van Overloop, Arne and van Santen, J and Vehring, M and Voge, M and Walck, C and Waldenmaier, T and Wallraff, M and Walter, M and Weaver, C and Wendt, C and Westerhoff, S and Whitehorn, N and Wiebe, K and Wiebusch, CH and Williams, DR and Wischnewski, R and Wissing, H and Wolf, M and Wood, TR and Woschnagg, K and Xu, C and Xu, DL and Xu, XW and Yanez, JP and Yodh, G and Yoshida, S and Zarzhitsky, P and Zoll, M and Akerlof, CW and Pandey, SB and Yuan, F and Zheng, W},
issn = {0004-6361},
journal = {ASTRONOMY \& ASTROPHYSICS},
keyword = {gamma-ray burst: general,GAMMA-RAY BURSTS,supernovae: general,neutrinos,HIGH-ENERGY NEUTRINOS,MUON NEUTRINOS,SKY SURVEY,ROTSE-III,TELESCOPE,AMANDA,SYSTEM,PERFORMANCE},
language = {eng},
pages = {12},
title = {Searching for soft relativistic jets in core-collapse supernovae with the IceCube optical follow-up program},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201118071},
volume = {539},
year = {2012},
}